AfricaDescription: My African friend is beautiful. Her skin colour is so vibrant and her culture is filled with joy and happiness. It’s beautiful to see such a gorgeous person involved in a remarkable culture, like the African culture.

Highly Commended Finalist (Best Representation of Culture)Courtney Blick (Year 8, Notre Dame College)DiversityDescription: At my Youth Group, we share something special. We come from different backgrounds, but we’re all Christians. This is one of many people in my group, and we all have a great time together and enjoy each other’s knowledge from different cultures. The definition of culture is diversity.

Winner (Best Image Composition)Bella Sullivan-Barry (Year 11, The Academy of Mary Immaculate)Beach KidsDescription: This photograph of my brother and his friends in Tasmania last summer depicts the culture of beach kids; kids who come together over a soldier crab, rather than a computer, kids who spend their summers going out at 9 and coming back at 5, filthy from exploring magic islands and building cubbies.

Highly Commended Finalist (Best Image Composition)Virginia Hidgkinson (Year 12, Loreto Mandeville Hall)Our Australian Beach cultureDescription: This image is a candid view into our Australian beach culture. This image represents how our society loves to colonise the beaches across Australia on hot summer days. It portrays the crowded beach on a hot sunny day at the popular Portsea surf beach in Victoria. Family and friends flock to the beach at every chance to enjoy and relax and spend time together. I believe this image portrays the quintessential Australian way of life and our culture.

Winner (Most Original Photograph)David Green (Year 10, Scotch College)Out bush campingDescription: Australia is a country of campers, it’s in our blood. It is part of our culture; it’s just one of those iconic Australian things like sangs on a barby or the ute.

Highly Commended Finalist (Most Original Photograph)Ashleigh Hill (Year 10, Our Lady of Sion College)Wedding ConfettiDescription: I was attending a friend’s wedding, a most common cultural celebration in Australia which requires men of all ages to wear a suit! I feel the circular composition leads the eye around the outer edge of the image and then in to the petals scattered on the pink-tinged ground embracing femininity and masculinity, representing the traditional marriage that has just taken place.

Description: These images convey significant meaning in terms of culture and identity. They display each generation of my family holding a photograph of my deceased Grandmother, representing the connection between them. My Grandmother was Italian and through each person holding the photograph, it is clear that her culture has impacted on the other generations. (Media: Silver gelatin photographic process, digitally manipulated using Photoshop.)

Highly Commended Finalist (Best Suite of Multiple Images)Eilidh Ross (Year 11, Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School)Visions of the Orient 1Description: This image was photographed on a sunny afternoon in Sydney’s Chinese gardens. One of a set of three, this photograph captures a sense of traditional Chinese culture. It captures the movement of the woman’s traditional headwear, as she walks through the gardens.Visions of the Orient 2Description: This photograph depicts a couple recreating a traditional Chinese ceremony in the gardens.Visions of the Orient 3Description: This close-up image looks at the detail of the Chinese dress and fan, in a setting that would not be out of place in an ancient Chinese painting.